Extra's Descent

95  Unravel [2]

Time affinity.

"....So it was indeed possible."

But…

"How did the original Brandon know about it?"

The more he discovered, the more questions he got.

The page was torn off, and he had no other leads to it.

But who could've done it?

Was it his parents?

The maids?

The other staff?

Regardless, he couldn't specifically ask them.

But he could indirectly.

"Later."

There was something else he needed to do.

Thud!

He started thrashing the room, in hopes of finding more clues.

Starting off with the drawers, he started pulling the containers and tossing them on the ground.

Thud– Thud— Thud——!

"None."

There was nothing peculiar under the drawers.

Looking around, he made his way to the bookshelves.

They were mostly novels.

[Accelerated Cognition]

And thus he started reading each book, in hopes of finding even more clues.

"Nope."

There was nothing in the first book.

Thud!

Nor the second.

Thud!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

None so far.

"...!"

But in the sixth book, something caught his attention. Nestled tightly on a certain page, there was a small paper.

As he scanned its contents, it was yet again, a magic circle.

Could it be a clue?

He decided to tuck it inside his pocket.

And if it was stuck on a certain page, then could the page have anything useful?

"Nope."

Thud!

It was just a novel page.

Thud– Thud— Thud——!

.

.

.

Time passed.

As he looked around, half opened books were scattered all over the floor.

He had already checked behind the bookshelf, and yet there was nothing.

From his findings, he had a total of eighteen small papers that contained magic circles.

But what were they for?

Magic circles obviously had some significant meaning to the original Brandon Locke.

But for what reason, he didn't know.

Children would often hide things under their bed.

So…

With such thoughts, he approached the bed.

It was the only furniture left in the plain and boring room.

"Seriously…"

Carrying the mattress, he tossed it on the floor. The bedframe's polished wood was exposed as soon as he did.

"...!"

There were faint traces of mana on it.

Hence, he started tracing the wood with his finger.

Nothing.

Again, but this time, with mana.

Conjuring mana in his hand, he started tracing the wood with his fingers.

"..."

There was definitely something.

Unlike the previous try, he could feel a slight bump somewhere in the middle.

And thus, he kept tracing it.

Following the bump, he had come to realize that his finger was being led into forming a circular shape.

"...!"

The circular shape started emitting a white glow all of a sudden.

Circle…

So did it have some correlation to the magic circles?

Tracing the wood once again, he started tracing the middle of the circle.

And yet again, there was a bumpy feeling.

Only this time, it didn't form a circular shape. It was a peculiar shape…

Just like that of the middle part of a magic circle.

"..."

So it did.

Retrieving the magic circles in his pocket, he scanned its contents.

Tracing his finger on the middle part of the wood, he started copying the magic circle's design.

.

.

Minutes passed, and as soon as he was done, the middle part of the circle's design started glowing white.

"...Is this it?"

Nothing was happening.

Was there something more to it?

But what?

"Ah."

The notebooks.

With such thoughts, he retrieved the notebook from his bag.

"..."

It was the same design as the glowing magic circle, and the magic circles on the small papers.

But then again, what was he supposed to do with it?

And so he started doing whatever he could just to activate the magic circle.

Like incantations.

Not like he knew any.

"Abrakadabra!"

It was a bust.

Maybe from the animes he knew?

With such thoughts, he covered one of his eyes with his hand.

"Kuhum…"

Clearing his throat, his lips parted open, and thus he started chanting.

Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark,

I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson.

The time of awakening cometh.

Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary, appear now as an intangible distortion!

I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force: a destructive force without equal!

Return all creation to cinders...

...And cometh frome the abyss!

"Explosion!"

And nothing happened.

"..."

One more?

"Arise."

None.

"Infinite Void?"

Nothing happened.

With nothing else to do, he placed his hand on the glowing magic circle.

14:18

Closing his eyes, he started gathering mana in his palms and poured it onto the circle.

Pursing his lips, he chanted once again.

"I am the bone of my sword…."

.

.

"Unlimited Blade—Huh?"

Before he finished his chant, he peered one of his eyes open.

As he did so, the glow became brighter.

Was it because of his chant?

He shook his head.

It would be ridiculous.

Most likely, it was because he started pouring mana onto the magic circle.

Looking down, the magic circles on the small papers started glowing as well.

"...!"

And they started floating.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh——!

The papers flew towards the glowing circle, latching onto it.

Rumble…

The room started shaking slightly. The circle started glowing even brighter.

Flip– Flip— Flip——!

The thick notebook which contained the magic circle doodles abruptly flipped on its own.

What in the…

Until it landed on a certain page.

"..."

The magic circle imprinted on the page was of the same design as the magic circle that kept glowing brighter and brighter.

Tzz—!

Blue sparks of lightning rippled around the page like shockwaves. The same went for the glowing magic circle.

And then…

All of a sudden, symbols started appearing on the notebook.

The symbols…

Hopefully, it was the final step.

So he wasn't far off with the chanting then?

How peculiar.

Opening his mouth, he started to chant.

The frenzy has begun.

The moon is red.

We're out of time.

There was no use in pondering whatever the cryptic chant was. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

And as those words left his mouth,

Wooosh—!

The world turned dark shortly after.

*

Opening his eyes, he found himself in the same room. Only that, it wasn't a mess.

"..."

The colors were all drained.

A monochromatic color.

Looking around, the room was left as it was before his arrival.

"...!"

And looking at the side, the door gradually opened.

A figure emerged shortly after. Just like from the vision he had back then, the figure was blurry.

He couldn't guess who the figure was.

"So this is a vision…."

That seemed to be the case.

The figure was carrying some kind of notebook.

Just like what Brandon did, the figure tossed the mattress on the ground.

Thud!

Placing the notebook on the wooden bedframe, the figure retrieved small papers from his pocket.

"..."

Stacking the papers on his hand, he lifted up his other hand.

His lips parted open, seemingly chanting something.

Everything was silent, and thus Brandon couldn't make out what the figure was saying.

The figure's mouth continued moving. The papers in his hand started floating in the air.

Tzz—

Monochromatic sparks of lightning started rippling around the wooden bedframe, as well as the paper.

Tzz—

And that was when a small magic circle materialized out of thin air.

One layer.

Two layers.

Three.

Six.

Ten…

Ten small layers of magic circles hovered in the air on top of each other.

The layers gradually descended onto the wooden bedframe and started condensing.

It coalesced with one another, and it started expanding.

Wooosh—!

All of a sudden, the notebook that was supposed to be on the wooden bedframe had disappeared.

The magic circle's glow started fading.

"..."

And the man stopped chanting.

But that was when…

His figure started to register.

It was gradually unblurring, and its pale-white hair came into view.

Suddenly, the figure abruptly turned his head in Brandon's direction.

"....!"

His cold ice-blue eyes, detached of any warmth pierced through Brandon's gaze.

"Haaa...."

The vision abruptly ended there.

Swoosh!

As it did, Brandon was hurled backwards by an unseen force.

Opening his eyes….

"....The notebook."

The notebook from the vision appeared in the middle of the wooden bedframe.